Ricarda Funk: Canoeist speaks tearfully about mistakes in the final

Ricarda Funk, gold medalist at the Olympic Games in Tokyo four years ago, missed her chance for a medal in the canoe slalom final on Sunday. A mistake shortly before the end of the race ruined her otherwise very good time. The gold medal went to Jessica Fox from Australia, followed by Klaudia Zwolinska from Poland and Kimberley Woods from Great Britain. What happened?

Funk was on course for a medal when she touched a pole at gate 20 shortly before the finish and received a 50-second penalty. This mistake ended her hopes of another medal after her success in Tokyo.

Ricarda Funk practices self-criticism

After her failure, Funk faced the reporters’ cameras and gave several interviews in which she was self-critical. “I took the risk in the last section of the course. It didn’t pay off, it was a bit too much,” said the canoeist in tears. She didn’t notice that the pole had slipped over her helmet. “I thought it was only two seconds.”

After the race, Funk wrote on Instagram: “I left it all on the water. I’m proud of that. Honestly, I don’t know when I’ve ever felt so proud. And yet, my heart is broken.”

Hope for second gold medal

Although the race is over, Funk still has another important event to complete at the 2024 Olympics. She will also compete in kayak cross, a new Olympic discipline similar to ski cross. In this competition, four athletes start from a ramp at the same time. The first to cross the finish line wins.

The German team currently has two gold medals at the Paris Games. On Monday, event rider Michael Jung triumphed in the final individual jumping competition; for the 41-year-old, it is already the fourth Olympic gold medal of his career. The first German gold medal of the 2024 Olympic Games was won by swimmer Lukas Märtens in the 400-meter freestyle.